Fearless Like Us (Like Us 9) - Page 162
“Winona! All talk!” Tate shouts. “Let’s see how big of a girl you are. You want to take me down! Come at me, bitch!”
I grind my teeth, breathing hot through my nose. What a fucking vile garbage human.
Winona is strangely frozen. Like his voice has scarred some fucking part of her. It shoots ire into my bloodstream. She shrinks back into Sulli, and it takes everything in me not to rage forward again.
I’m the only one keeping this door shut.
“Hey!” Akara glares, unable to confront Tate without putting the Meadows girls at risk. “The police are seconds away!”
“Yeah, right. I’m not falling for that again.” Tate laughs, then shouts at Winona, “Go hide behind your bodyguard and your slutty sister! What a big fucking pussy you are!”
“What’d you say?” That’s not coming from me.
Or Akara.
Or even Sulli.
A new player has entered the ring.
A shaggy-haired seventeen-year-old pumps up his chest against Tate’s chest. “Why are you taunting her, dude? This is her uncle’s house that you’re trespassing on. Stop bullying her.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Tate sneers.
“Jesse Highland.” He gets in his face. “Come at me, dick.”
Tate swings, and Jesse shoves Tate into the pool. The T-Bag slips over the edge and splashes into the water.
Some people actually applaud.
And then the music cuts out to silence. Followed next by loud police sirens.
“Oh no!”
“Shit. Go, go!”
Teenagers scatter in every direction. Trying to quickly jump over the garden hedge. Trampling over cans and broken glass.
Tate struggles out of the pool. Urgency to leave draining color out of his face.
Thing is, we know where he lives. Rose and Connor even know his parents.
“Busted!” Kinney shouts through the window.
What a fucking shitshow.
I’m still on guard. Not everyone has vacated, and Akara lowers the volume on the sirens. He played the prerecorded sound over the stereo system.
Sulli tells him, “Boss move.”
Yeah, at this point, Akara’s resumé is stacked to heaven with boss moves. Makes it easy to follow him.
I almost smile, but I shout at the lingering teens, “You all need to go. Except Jesse.”
Jesse is with us.
A girl in a pink sweater says, “We were, um…” She pushes up her glasses. “…invited to the sip-in-snow for Audrey’s pre-birthday party.”
“They’re with us!” Vada shouts, right outside the glass sliding door. So is Kinney.
“You sure?” I ask, counting about six teenagers left.
“Yeah!” Kinney chimes in.
So I let go of the door.
Ben and Vada rush outside to Winona, and Xander is trying to sweep up the shards from the glass coffee table. He gives up midway through. Kinney stays with him.
I want to help the Hales, but too much involving security isn’t resolved or secure. Stereo is turned off. Sulli, Akara, and I meet up at the firepit to extinguish this blaze. Orion happily circles Sulli’s feet.
“Careful,” she tells him. Empty wine glasses and bottles litter the area. A couple forgotten scarves hang over chairs.
And suddenly, a tense noise cuts into the cold air.
Knock knock.
Knock knock.
Akara and I share an uneasy look.
We take out our phones.
“Was that a notification for the Royal Leaks?” Vada asks too loudly. Those six strangers start checking their phones like us.
Akara frowns. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
Sulli peers closer at his screen.
For fuck’s sake. How…?
THE ROYAL LEAKS
We reveal all the truths about the American Royals. These are verified and come directly from the source.
ROYAL LEAK #1: Sullivan Meadows bought Plan B.
#TodaysLeaks #TheCondomBroke #OopsieBaby #poundtown
Winona, Vada, Ben, and Jesse look up at the three of us in wide-eyed shock. Inside, Kinney and Xander are staring out. And the six strangers gawk in Sulli’s direction.
Like our drama has eclipsed and outclassed their drama. Gotta say, this is a first for me.
“I’m not here. This isn’t fucking happening,” she mutters, a hand to her forehead.
I wrap an arm around Sulli.
“Show’s over!” Akara yells, and they try to pry their beady-eyes off us.
The leak confuses the holy hell out of me. The three of us turn more towards the fire, and I ask Akara, “How’d they know the condom broke? We didn’t say a fucking thing in the penthouse.”
“I know,” Akara breathes, running a tensed hand through his hair.
“The car can’t be bugged,” Sulli says. “None of the other leaks came from Booger. They’ve all originated from the penthouse.”
Orion lets out a bark.
The three of us lower our gazes.
Cold nips at my skin, and I ask, “Has anyone checked the dogs?”
57
BANKS MORETTI
We leave Orion inside the mansion, secured in a bathroom. With a very peculiar-looking device on the inside of his collar. Translucent, three little wires protruding.
I’m no genius, but I’d bet my firstborn that the dog is bugged.
Firstborn.
God, my thoughts. Of course, I’m thinking about babies since the condom broke. Being a dad hasn’t been on my radar. I’ve been thinking about being an uncle. But I’ve always figured if I did have a kid, my dumbass would probably have an accident.
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